Thursday, 10 July 2008

Boeing is working hard on a concept craft, basically a blimp, with four helicopter type engines that will propel the blimp with a 40-ton cargo. The curious direction right now is to use the blimp in the extreme north....bringing cargo to mining and oil sites.

Along the way of research....I'm guessing that the US Army will come view the vehicle....turn to gaze at the Air Force.....and ask for one that could move 100 tons....then dump the Air Force and its lighter cargo carriers.

The fuel usage, would likely be a quarter of what you'd expect from most aircraft normally used for such a mission. I'm guessing that these will catch on. In fact, with the cost of fuel going the current direction, I'm guessing transatlantic flights will draw blimp usage and we might be traveling back and forth on one within ten years across the Atlantic, although the 48-hour trip might be more than we desire.

Letters From Ripley

Inspired by Letters from Seneca (124-essay effort) that brought Stoicism out of the shadows.

Stoicism is the concept of accepting pains, woes, sorrows, troubles, luck, gains, losses, and life as being "part of nature". Whatever happened yesterday...simply happened....I can learn from it, gain from it, and then just accept it. No matter what the score was....there is tomorrow and I simply need to put my best foot forward.

Me?

There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood,
leads onto fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in
shallows, and in miseries. So I intend to ride out this flood upon my
virtual porch in Ripley and see where this "flood of life" takes
me...whilst sipping ice cold tea with a chunk of lemon...pondering the
comings and goings of life.